OFFSET EDGE - Pet Pallet

[Anonymous]

Is this a wish or a bug?

Working with polygon shapes and the Offset edge tool on the pet pallet works fine, it does just what you want.

However, when it comes to editing a polyline or a selection of unclosed elements (see topic on this), such as a selection of walls or lines, then the behaviour can be rather strange.

Select several joined lines/walls and then edit the end one using the Offset edge.

Then what happens is this:

Rather than extending the adjacent elements and keeping the end one at the original length, you find it lengthens or shortens the element, depending on the undrawn line between the first and last element you have selected.

In the example below, the closed shape would be a triangle, and the wall is either lengthened or shortened according to which way you offset.

This is not what I want to happen.

Am I the only one who thinks this is not what the edit should do?

[Dwight]

Right. It doesn't work the way you want.

I am surprised, too, because it obviously creates a centroid and scales the wall against that reference point.

Bugya!

If I understand correctly, you want to move an intersecting wall and shorten only the adjacent leg.

That is easily done with a marquee stretch, instead.

[Thomas Holm]

The thing is, it works identically as in polygons. Actually it assumes the polyline is a polygon, closed or not. I assume that is what an "Offset edge" command would do. Try Dwight's tip if you want something else.

[__archiben]

Thomas wrote:
The thing is, it works identically as in polygons. Actually it assumes the polyline is a polygon, closed or not

... and you know what they say about assumptions right?

i'm 80% in agreement with andy. i don't want to mess around with the marquee tool when i have several linear elements already selected. it frustrates me that i always have to adjust the outside elements back to their original length.

i would say it's another example of a solution not thoroughly thought through - the functionality of polygon editing on an open 'polygon' should be different from the functionality of operating on a closed polygon.

the trouble comes when trying to workout the default logic of open polygon editing:

- should the endpoints remain fixed and a new linear element be created between the fixed end and the new position of the end element?

- should the default angle of the end element relative to the fixed endpoint always be 90º?

probably . . . but not always. and therein lies the rub . . .


~/archiben

[Anonymous]

I share Andy's frustration. I do use a marquee at times to avoid this, but think I shouldn't really have to.

Also, I use polylines as leaderlines for notes, and if you do stretch or offset the line, the arrowhead end often switches on you, so when you Alt-click to get properties for the next line the arrowhead is now at the wrong end.

[Dwight]

So the tool has limits.

And to make it serve everyone's assumptions as to how it works, there's potentially another layer of options in a palette to slow the tool down even more.

Sort of like those Objects with too many parameters.

[Anonymous]

Dwight wrote:
.. to make it serve everyone's assumptions as to how it works, there's potentially another layer of options in a palette to slow the tool down even more...

Dwight,

My points are:

1. Does anyone really want it to do what it current does? I certainly don't.

2. I don't want to have to select the marquee tool to do this.

P.S.
It can produce bizarre results, depending on the geometry of the group/polylines which surely no one would want....

[Anonymous]

Perhaps that pet palette should not be available when you select individual walls. This is really a polygonal editing tool and I use it all the time when editing polygons and I want it to act exactly how it does. If it acted differently (as you are suggesting) it would not be consistent with how it is used with polygons. Perhaps you are looking for a different functionality that could be addressed with a different pet palette icon.

[Anonymous]

Mike,

The Offset edge function works fine for polygons.

I am not after any change in its function for polygons! Nor am I after removing it from the pet pallet.

The pet pallet has some nifty functions.

One smart thing about ArchiCAD since version 8 is that by selecting several joined elements, be they walls or lines, you can edit them using the pet pallet with many of the functions available for editing ploygons.

My point is that rather than close an open polyline shape with an arbitrary virtual line (which is effectively what the programme does at the moment) it should not close the polyline and allow the final vector line to remain the same length. See below:

I'm sure the guys in Budapest are smart enough to do this.

[Dwight]

Andy wrote:

I'm sure the guys in Budapest are smart enough to do this.

I agree that there should be more adaptability to the pet palette and its subsidiary commands.

But do they CARE enough to do it when important things like saving the Sketch rendering settings with a single button click are ignored?